Mike Hobbs

A Virtual World Environment for Group Work

This article seeks to show that a virtual world can provide a useful addition in the use of computer-mediated learning tools. We discuss the underlying educational context and link this to the properties of virtual worlds and, in particular, that of Second Life. We report on the progress of a project for developing group work that seeks to link affordances in the environment to learning outcomes and employs a socially situated, constructivist, pedagogical framework. We found that a virtual world environment can enable autonomous, differentiated learning through the use of suitably structured tasks, and postulate that an individual’s depth of engagement with the environment may be linked to the learning style.

Using A Virtual World For Transferable Skills in Gaming Education

Abstract This paper suggests that some of the needs for transferable skills in general, and in particular for the gaming industry, can be met by the appropriate use of gaming and virtual world environments. We hope to show that virtual worlds provide a logical progression in the use of computer mediated learning tools within a constructivist pedagogical perspective. We briefly discuss the educational properties of virtual worlds and in particular that of Second Life. We propose a project for developing group work which seeks to link affordances in the environment to learning outcomes and employs a socially-situated, constructivist pedagogical framework derived from educational learning theory.

Data integration approach for semi-structured and structured data (Linked Data)

Researchers in the semantic web community have been designing tools and architectures to integrate heterogeneous data originated from distributed sources in the last decade. Technologies, such as RDF, have enabled new data spaces and concept descriptors to define an increasing complex and heterogeneous web of data. To these growing data resource spaces it is necessary to bridge between the different knowledge domains and provide a homogeneous and user-friendly interface. This paper discusses the limitations of some of the existing tools and solutions. The authors also propose a new architecture to integrate, using a mediator and centralised global schema, semi structured heterogeneous sources with large scale of structured data sources, particularly Linked Open Data cloud, and provide a search interface for non-expert users to searching and to accessing to them.

An interlinking approach based on domain recognition for Linked Data

The problem of interlinking datasets in, and with the Linked Open Data cloud has been one of major challenges and an important research subject in the Semantic Web. The interlinking is frequently addressed on existing data. The proposed approach, however, suggests a system to verify in first place the existence of the Uniform Resource Identifier of the resource being published in the cloud in order to establish links with it. The overall aim of the research is designing a system to facilitate the follow of the best practices and recommendation in publishing data into the Linked Open Data cloud. The main contribution of the presented paper is the use of the domain to allocate variable weights in measuring the similarity of the instances, according to the significance of their properties in defining the identity of the dataset.

Using Augmented Reality to engage STEM students with an authentic curriculum

This paper reports on the introduction of a set of ‘Augmented Reality’ (AR) tasks, offering an innovative, real world and problem based set of activities for a group of first year University Gaming and Computer Science students. Our initial research identifies a gap in the perceptions of STEM students between the usefulness of discipline based modules and a compul‐ sory ‘Professional Development’ module where more ‘employability’ based skills were delivered. It had a history of poor student engagement and attend‐ ance, and failed to provide a compelling narrative/links to the outside world. The AR tasks were designed to facilitate group-working and multi-channel communication, and to engage students through the use of a more creative technology. Framed as a rich case study, insights are captured through student blogs, video interviews and a questionnaire. Initial findings indicate higher levels of satisfaction, enhanced student engagement and a greater awareness of the value of transferable skills.

Free-text user queries for semantic search

The amount of linked open data is growing fast. Yet, it is difficult for the end users to access the semantic data without having the in depth knowledge of the SPARQL language. The modern semantic search engines tackled the problem with standard user interfaces. However, these interfaces are not very usable for people with no understanding of semantic technologies. It is challenging for the semantic search tools to meet the criteria of a user-friendly search interface and the biggest challenge is to translate informal free text user queries to formal queries that can be resolved by a query processor i.e. SPARQL. In the present work the authors introduce an interface based on their previously modelled framework. The interface translates end user queries to SPARQL syntax by tagging the search terms with related concepts and properties. The authors explain the implementation of the search framework followed by the evaluation of the process.

Schema Matching for Semi-structured and Linked Data

The Linked Data paradigm is a common standard initiated to complement the general architecture of the semantic web and create a single space containing data that is machine-readable and connected to related data. Figures, however, show that one of the main sources of semi-structured data providers, Web APIs, continued to grow even after the creation of the Linked Data concept. Given that data sources with significant value are still in a semi-structured format, it is essential to bridge between the two data models, so that the full potential of the semantic web can be realised. This paper presents SimiMatch, an approach for schema matching between semi-structured and Linked Data. It contributes towards a virtual integration system that will be able to provide transparent access to heterogeneous and autonomous sources. It addresses the challenge of sustaining the continuous changes of the web of data via semantic similarity measurement.

Designing for usability in 3D virtual environments

This paper is about designing 3D applications and the software design process in desktop virtual environments. Here, we introduce parts of our work on a design-focused approach to usability engineering and software development for 3D desktop virtual environments. We begin by discussing some of the current limitations in virtual environment research. We then introduce alternate perspectives for improving the usability of virtual environment applications. We highlight the need for a software development approach to designing virtual environment applications and provide some arguments for this. Finally, we conclude by providing a summary of our work-in-progress solution.

Using semantic similarity for schema matching of semi-structured and linked data

This paper presents SimiMatch, an element based schema matching approach for semi-structured and Linked Data. It contributes towards a virtual data integration system that is able to provide transparent access to heterogeneous and autonomous sources. SimiMatch addresses the challenge of sustaining the continuous changes of a large-scale web of data through the use of semantic similarity measurement. The output is a domain-dependent global schema that is created and updated automatically through an unsupervised process. A test of the implementation and an evaluation of SimiMatch in three domains (movie, geographical and people data) demonstrate the effectiveness and the performance of the approach.

Using Augmented Reality to Engage STEM Students with an Authentic Curriculum

This paper reports on the introduction of a set of ‘Augmented Reality’ (AR) tasks, offering an innovative, real world and problem based set of activities for a group of first year University Gaming and Computer Science students. Our initial research identifies a gap in the perceptions of STEM students between the usefulness of discipline based modules and a compulsory ‘Professional Development’ module where more ‘employability’ based skills were delivered. It had a history of poor student engagement and attendance, and failed to provide a compelling narrative/links to the outside world. The AR tasks were designed to facilitate group-working and multi-channel communication, and to engage students through the use of a more creative technology. Framed as a rich case study, insights are captured through student blogs, video interviews and a questionnaire. Initial findings indicate higher levels of satisfaction, enhanced student engagement and a greater awareness of the value of transferable skills.